Particularly vulnerable tribal group
{{Short description|Administrative grouping of tribes in India}}
A particularly vulnerable tribal group or PVTG (previously known as a primitive tribal group), in the context of India, is a sub-classification of Scheduled Tribe or section of a Scheduled Tribe, that is considered more vulnerable than a regular Scheduled Tribe. The PVTG list was created by the Indian Government with the purpose of better improving the living standards of endangered tribal groups based on priority. PVTGs reside in 18 states and one union territory.{{cite book|author=B. M. L. Patel|title=Agrarian Transformation In Tribal India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HI9h4qVFDCoC&pg=PA313|accessdate=2 April 2013|date=1 January 1998|publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd.|isbn=978-81-7533-086-3|pages=313–}}{{Cite web |title=Revised scheme of "Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups" - PVTGs |url=https://tribal.gov.in/writereaddata/Schemes/4-5NGORevisedScheme.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525113400/https://tribal.gov.in/writereaddata/Schemes/4-5NGORevisedScheme.pdf |archive-date=25 May 2022 |access-date=27 Jun 2022 |website=tribal.nic.in}}
File:Infograph of tribal classification (India).svg
File:Baiga adivasi in protest walk, India.jpg, the particularly vulnerable tribe of Chhattisgarh.]]
Origin of the concept
The Dhebar Commission (1960-1961){{cite book|author1=Ram Nath Sharma|author2=Dr. Rajendra K. Sharma|title=Problems Of Education In India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4odAR3HVJNcC&pg=PA46|accessdate=2 April 2013|year=2004|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=978-81-7156-612-9|pages=46–}} found that within the Scheduled Tribe classification an inequality existed in the rate of development of certain tribes over others. As a result in the fourth Five Year Plan the sub-category "Primitive tribal group" was created within the grouping of Scheduled Tribe to identify groups considered to be especially lacking in modern development. The features of such a group include a pre-agricultural system of existence, that is practice of hunting and gathering, zero or negative population growth, and extremely low levels of literacy in comparison with other tribal groups.{{cite book|author1=Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri|author2=Sucheta Sen Chaudhuri|title=Primitive Tribes in Contemporary India: Concept, Ethnography and Demography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oG9_QkvmUKMC&pg=PA2|accessdate=2 April 2013|year=2005|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-8324-026-0|page=2}}
Groups that satisfied any of the criteria were considered to be a Primitive Tribal Group. At the conclusion of the Fifth Five year plan, 52 communities were identified as being a "primitive tribal group" based on recommendations made by Indian state governments.{{cite book|author1=Jasodhara Bagchi|author2=Sarmistha Dutta Gupta|title=The Changing Status of Women in West Bengal, 1970-2000: The Challenge Ahead|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYYW8Un5zFAC&pg=PA130|accessdate=2 April 2013|year=2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-3242-0|page=130}} At the conclusion of the Sixth Five year plan 20 additional groups were added and 2 more were added in the Seventh Five year plan and finally one more group was added in the eighth five-year plan, for a total 75 groups were identified as Primitive Tribal Group.{{cite book|author=Bhagyalaxmi Mahapatra|title=Development of a Primitive Tribe: A Study of Didayis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxccPsvvDkkC&pg=PA47|accessdate=2 April 2013|year=2011|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-8069-782-1|pages=47–49}} The 75th group recognised as PTG were the Maram in Manipur in 1993-94. No new group was declared as PTG on the basis of the 2001 census.{{cite book|author=Komol Singha|title=Economy of a Tribal Village|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJ9Z0GzDTeUC&pg=PA167|accessdate=2 April 2013|year=2011|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-8069-745-6|page=21}}
In 2006 the government of India changed the name of "Primitive tribal group" to "Particularly vulnerable tribal group"{{cite book|author=Laxmikanth|title=Governance In India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ri6XEuHlcJkC&pg=SA14-PA26|accessdate=2 April 2013|publisher=McGraw-Hill Education (India) Pvt Limited|isbn=978-0-07-107466-7|pages=14–}} PTG has since been renamed Particularly vulnerable tribal group by the government of India.{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/misconstruing-order-chhattisgarh-tribals-denied-sterilisation-for-three-decades/article4048484.ece|title=Misconstruing order, Chhattisgarh tribals denied sterilisation for three decades|date=2012-10-31|accessdate=3 April 2013}}
File:Chenchus hunting .jpg hunting.]]
Other issues
Until 2018 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups were not allowed contraceptive use by the Indian Government because of their often declining or stagnant population growth. Based on the assumption that allowing them to use contraception would hamper efforts to increase the size of their populations. However in 2018 the High Court of Chhattisgarh in a Public Interest Litigation found this to be a violation of their right to privacy and ruled that they had the right to contraceptives. The PVTG of Chhattisgarh got these rights amidst concerns of family planning amongst many of them particularly the Baigas.{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/law/pvtg-chhattisgarh-contraception-high-court|title=Tribal Women in Chhattisgarh Win Right to Access Contraception|first=Anoo|last=Bhuyan|website=The wire|accessdate=2020-09-01|archive-date=2021-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506012325/https://thewire.in/law/pvtg-chhattisgarh-contraception-high-court|url-status=live}}